14.2.13

By the time that The Damned arrived at Chiswick in 1979 they had
released four singles on Stiff and given one away, two LPs had been
issued, one of which they weren’t keen on at the time and the other was
already regarded as seminal. There had been a couple of line-up changes,
Stiff had relieved themselves of their services; they had all formed
different bands and then reformed as the Doomed due to legal matters
over the name. Next, manager Rick Rogers and their publisher Rock Music
recorded two new songs, ‘Love Song’ and ‘Burglar’ and wacked them out as
the legendary ‘Dodgy Demo’ which was mostly given away at gigs. At a
packed gig in London Chiswick Records were persuaded to sign them up,
despite rumours of raucous behaviour on their part.

The A-side of the ‘Dodgy Demo’ was picked as the first single and
Eddie (of Hot Rods fame) Hollis elected as producer. Eventually, after
new vocals were recorded and remixes were made, the single finally was
issued on 27 April 1979, distributed through EMI. In a shameless attempt
to exploit the fan market, the single was issued in four separate
picture bags, each featuring a different band member taken at a photo
session by Alan Ballard. The shameless marketing worked and the single
charted, eventually peaking at 20 in May, helped by two wildly over the
Top of the Pops appearances. So far so good.

Over the summer an album was started and eventually from that came
the second single, edited from the album: ‘Smash It Up’. Everyone
thought that this was to be the break-through record as it had
everything that a hit record needed. However Auntie BBC did not like the
title, despite the humorous and obviously tongue in cheek nature of the
lyrics. It still made it to #35 and over the years became the great
Damned anthem, capable of turning a ballroom into a seething mass of
colliding bodies.So, within six weeks of ‘Smash It Up’, single 3, ‘I Just Can’t Be
Happy Today’ was released. In the wake of the ‘Smash It Up’ ban there
was some nervousness about the middle 8 lyric and a new one was recorded
for the promo version in the hope that it would not suffer the same
fate. ‘I Just Can’t Be Happy Today’ was given some play and there was a
Top of the Pops appearance that helped the record to sneak into the
charts.

Into a new decade and there was some thrashing about of the ‘what to
do next’ kind. The 60s provided one answer in the shape of a cover of
Jefferson Airplane’s ‘White Rabbit’. Truth to tell, the flip ‘Rabid Over
You’ was the better A-side, but given the past history of banning, why
bother even trying with a title like that? (These were more innocent
days, children.) A dispute ensued and the record was withdrawn in the
UK, only getting to test pressing stage. Ho Hum.

It was 1980, synths were becoming all the rage and there was a young
programmer/musician called Hans Zimmer who had worked with Buggles on
their 1979 hit ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’. He was in the studio with
another Chiswick band, the Radiators, when the Damned co-opted him for
their epically titled ‘The History of the World, Part 1’. But that did
take some time and money to make, and eventually it came out in
September of that year credited as “Over-Produced by Hans Zimmer”. An
epic work that cost epic amounts of money but slightly lacking the sales
to match. But then art is often hard to contain and Hans Zimmer did
make good use of the training exercise and went on to score such films
as Gladiator, Black Hawk Down and various Pirates of the Caribbean
movies, so at least he made a bob or two out of it all. It’s still a
great record – and definitely epic. The single was featured on the next album, but no other single
A-sides were pulled from it at the time. Instead the festive season got
the better of everyone and, with a tip of the hat to the Marks Brothers,
‘There Ain’t No Sanity Clause’ became the final Damned single on
Chiswick, some 19 months after the release of the first. What a short
strange trip it was.(By Roger Armstrong)

5.2.13

Golden Pavilion Records is a new label that
reissues rare and often overlooked late 60's and 70's psychedelic,
progressive, library sound, acid-folk & art-rock music. Having a target
to "make this music available to the discerning listener, as close as
possible to its original format",their releases so far have pleased many record collectors worldwide by presenting great recordings on high
quality vinyl in limited run.Some works with contemporary
artists were also welcome.FounderAntonio Barreiros has more to say(and to do in the future) so keep reading.

What
motivated you to start a label?

Being very
interested in vinyl records, especially worldwide psych, folk and progressive
music from the late 60’s to the late 70’s, I came across innumerous obscure and
little known gems that changed hands between avid collectors for hefty sums.
Most of these records had never been reissued and in many cases little was
known about the musicians behind it. So it came as a logical step to create a
label that would primarily focus on reissuing long lost recordings. The
motivation lay in the possibility of bringing back and preserving some of this
music while sharing it with a wider audience.

When and how
did it start?

Golden
Pavilion was formed in February 2010 and started with threesimultaneous releases
in June 2010.

Was it a
financial struggle?

Yes. Licensing and producing vinyl records
with an attractive packaging isn’t exactly cheap and the turn-around can take
some time, so it’s important to be very aware of all costs involved and to have
a good idea of how a particular release will do in the market.

What other
labels influenced you?

I always
enjoyed the classic UK labels such as Harvest, Vertigo, Deram, Neon, Nepentha,
Island... Most of what I heard was on these labels so, yes these labels
influenced me. Also relevant was the artwork often elaborate and unique.

Who are your
competitors?

I hope no-one! Seriously I think there are
some great people behind some great labels with a similar focus to Golden Pavilion but personally I never perceive them as competitors. We are all
musical archeologists bringing out lost gems from the past, and together we
leave a body of work which I wish to believe leaves an imprint in people’s
choices. Not only the rediscovery of lesser known records from the Psychedelic
and Progressive era, but also the joy of having and playing vinyl, made today,
also and hopefully more and more, from contemporary bands.

Why the
name?

The name is
a tribute to Yukio Mishima’s novel “The temple of the Golden Pavilion” which
gives us a fictional account of the burning of the Golden Pavilion of
Kinkaku-Ji in Kyoto. In Mishima’s novel, the temple represented the height of
beauty and in itself something unattainable to the main protagonist. To me Art
is beyond the artist. It’s an expression that escapes him and that lives in its
own realm.

What’s your
guiding principle?

In life or
just the label? I would say you have to trust your instinct. And that applies
to life in general!I always
work better when my heart is in it, and this has been the case with each and
every release. So I guess it sums it up: The guiding principle is to love what
you do and discipline yourself.

Can you sum
up your label’s output ?

The first
release was GINO PERTOT. A lost recording from the mid 70’s Austria. With a
clear Nick Drake influence (and tribute) Gino recorded this album in a
tumultuous period of his life and it also served as a turning point for him.
It’s very Viennese in the fact that it dwells between dark undertones and an
almost hopeless joyfulness. At the same time EXPERIENCIA (An unknown Portuguese
band with a South American flavour in their music) and DRAGON (A Belgian band
who got overshadowed by MACHIAVEL and ended up releasing their album in the UK)
were released.

Then came PANTA REI (Sweden), UNIVERIAZEKT (who are none other
than the mythical French band MAGMA), MARIO GARCIA (Brazil/Uruguay), ART BOYS
COLLECTION (One of the rarest Austrian flower-power mod’ish LP’s), YVES
RAKOTOMALALA (Originally from Madagascar but living in France, he recorded this
in only 200 copies, sounding very much like a lost NEIL YOUNG recording), and then the second DRAGON album (originally
recorded only as a demo), Followed by a contemporary Russian band called
VESPERO who gives us a breed of floating Space-rock with clear Krautrock
undertones, Then LIFE (Sweden and one of the rarest from this country), BOB
THEIL (in a newly designed gatefold cover including an exact replica of the
rare EP) and PLUS (One of the funkiest recordings out of Belgium, that ranks
right along PLACEBO, with some psychedelic and progressive touches as
well). After this came the TIME WASTERS
(a very obscure small release from the UK), followed by a brand-new MARK FRY
recording (MARK FRY who recorded the legendary “Dreaming with Alice” in Italy),
This was followed by the first ever blues record from Italy: THE BLUES RIGHT
OFF, a band from Venice with the Danish guitarist CLAES CORNELIUS, and then
EDITION SPECIALE, a groovy French progressive combo somewhere between the likes
of YES, GONG and MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA). The rare Italian library recording by
STEFANO TOROSSI called “Feelings” followed, best described as a jazzy-funk with
a lounge feel, and just recently the elusive sole recording by the Swiss band
called “HAND” as a 40th anniversary deluxe package.

How
important is the look and packaging of your records?

It’s very important. I see many labels out
there reissuing some legendary albums without much concern for the visual
appeal. It all starts with the quality
of the image itself, the resolution and the colour balance. We always try to
make an exact replica of the cover and usually produce an own design for the
labels. The records are almost always shrink-wrapped and we use high quality
covers and vinyl. When master tapes are available, we re-master the sound in a
professional studio using a vintage Neumann VMS 70 / SAL 74B / SX 74 cutter
head and avoiding, whenever possible, going through too much digitalization.

Of which
release are you the most proud?

I am
particularly proud of releases that have brought a new awareness to the artists
concerned. Gino for example, has picked up his guitar again and started
composing some songs. Bob Theil has come together with some other musicians in
Spain to record new material. The band “Plus” has seen a warm welcome of their
music in Japan with a Japanese company releasing the same album on mini-lp.

What are
your future plans for expanding the label?

Recently I have been restructuring the Golden
Pavilion concept and started a partnership with Seattle-based record label and
distributors Light in the Attic. Furthermore all our releases are entirely produced
in the US.

How do you
survive through the years?

How does anyone survive through the years..:)! I’m reminded of this sequence in Woody Allen’s “Crimes and Misdemeanors”
where Doctor Levy, a brilliant philosopher exposes his inspiring ideas and
later on commits suicide leaving behind a simple note: “I’ve gone out the
window”.To answer
your question: This is primarily a labour of love. I would probably be better
off selling oranges, yes, but this is what I love doing and I am convinced
there is room for growth. In the garden, growth has it seasons. First comes
spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and
summer again. (..)There will be growth in the spring! (Being there)

How do you
find new acts?

Sometimes
it’s an accident, one band leads to another.. Sometimes friends recommend a
project. Raven for example, a US band related to MICAH, is one of my upcoming Spring releases and it
was recommended by my good friend Tove in Norway. I had not heard of the band
before and I think almost no-one must have heard of this recording since it
remained unreleased for almost 37 years.
Some of the projects have been on my wish list for years, and some I
just happen to stumble upon. I also do receive emails on a weekly basis from
all kinds of bands searching for a label. Some of them are actually very good
but don’t really fit the direction intended for the label.

Our next output,
up until summer 2013, consists mainly of 4 albums. The first is a well kept gem
of the Italian library scene. It’s called ARAWAK, and this will be our first
record produced in association with Light in the Attic. The second is RAVEN, as I mentioned before.
Then comes a fantastic US prog LP by PENTWATER and this will be followed by the
loner folk record “Take me home” by BERT KEELY. Later in the year we will have
a very special project which I cannot talk about for the moment, but this will
be an unusual release to say the least. There are several other projects still
waiting to be released and the list is growing constantly...